Kwok: Remembering Ritzer's legacy

Friday

Intern Tim Kwok reflects on seeing his former classmates, recipients of the Colleen Ritzer Scholarship, go on to begin their own careers in education.

As a 2015 graduate of Danvers High, I was there when it happened in 2013. I remember getting the call at home that day -- school had been cancelled due to an “ongoing police investigation.”

Of course, at the time, I was a young naive high school student. I was excited at first; no school meant no homework. But as the morning continued, that excitement turned to nervousness. A text from a friend, asking if I knew anything about what happened, broke the excitement.

I still wasn’t sure at the time what that friend meant. Why would they text me about it unless this was something big? Did some senior have drugs in their locker and the police found it? Did someone just have an accident and fell down some stairs?

Being a close knit high school, word got around fast. Some of my classmates had parents that were police officers, and they were turned to as we all sought more information about what was happening.

Soon, the news was out.

In just a few hours, every classmate, every student knew that someone had been murdered in the school, but no one knew exactly who.

Many teachers had social media accounts, Twitter mainly, where they would tweet out the homework for the night, or post inspirational quotes to motivate the students before the day started. My classmates and I started to tweet our teachers, asking if they were OK. In time, after what felt like days, all of the teachers who had Twitter replied, and tweeted that they were OK.

All, except for one.

On the news, one of the officers announced they were wrapping up the investigation and would have more information at noon. From there, the communal panic both lowered and skyrocketed. If the investigation was over, what did that mean for whoever was murdered? Was it a teacher? A student? Maybe a resident just walking around in the wrong place at the wrong time?

At noon, they wasted no time getting the information out: they had found the body of Colleen Ritzer.

I didn’t want to hear anymore; I wasn’t even sure I heard the officer correctly. I looked to social media, checking Facebook and Twitter. I texted my friends, looking for anything to confirm what I thought I heard.

All I read was only a confirmation of my dread. It was true, one of our most beloved teachers was gone.

The coming support was tremendous. A vigil was organized within the hour, set to happen that night. Seeing my classmates there that night, rows of flowers in front of the school, and candles being placed in her honor is a sight that will never leave my memories.

This year's milestone for the Ritzer Scholarship serves as a reminder of how much Ms. Ritzer’s influence really affected all of us at Danvers High, whether it was through her teachings, her beliefs, or how she held her students in such high regard. Her influence inspired future teachers, each one of whom plans to set a standard that would make Ritzer proud.

We’re continuing the legacy that Ritzer left behind. Every year the legacy grows, as more students become teachers. It’s nice to see that those given the scholarships will be taking something they learned from Ritzer into their classrooms -- much like how many of us take her beliefs and quotes with us in our everyday lives.

Tim Kwok, an intern for Wicked Local, was a student of Colleen Ritzer. He wrote about the Colleen Ritzer Scholarship's recent milestone here.